PREVIEW | County welcome Macclesfield Town to Rodney Parade

1 October 2018

Newport County AFC will be looking for their third successive League Two victory when they entertain Macclesfield Town on Tuesday night. The Exiles could go joint top of the division should they win and Lincoln City lose, while the Silkmen head to Rodney Parade looking to kickstart their campaign after a slow start so far.

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Here, you can find all the facts and statistics ahead of this League Two encounter.

Last five results in League Two

The only side in League Two yet to win a match, it’s been a horrible start to the season for newly promoted Macclesfield Town and they sit at the foot of the table having picked up just three points from their opening 10 fixtures.

In their last five league fixtures, only one point has been achieved, and that particular run starts with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at Crewe Alexandra. Charlie Kirk opened the scoring and Jordan Bowery hit a double for the Railwaymen as they eased to victory in the Cheshire derby.

That swiftly became back-to-back league defeats as Stevenage secured a 1-0 home victory against the Silkmen. Danny Newton scored his first of the campaign to ensure the points stayed in Hertfordshire.

Macclesfield probably expected nothing from their home tie with league leaders Lincoln City and that is exactly what they got as they conceded late to lose 2-1. Jamie Grimes cancelled out Tom Pett’s early opener, but Jason Shackell kept the Imps marching with the winner three minutes from time.

Even at this early stage of the season, you just felt that it was a relegation six-pointer when the Silkmen travelled to Morecambe and the away side were left to rue Michael Rose’s dismissal as they suffered another 2-1 defeat. Danny Whitaker fired in a magnificent equaliser for Macclesfield, but the home side secured the points thanks to goals from AJ Leitch-Smith and Andy Fleming.

In their most recent match, the Silkmen did at-least stop the succession of defeats with a battling 1-1 draw at home to Forest Green Rovers. Dayle Grubb gave the visitors the lead just after the restart, but Macclesfield rallied for a point through Scott Wilson.

Team-News

Macclesfield Town manager Mark Yates is currently undergoing an injury crisis and will be missing several members of his first-team squad for the trip to Rodney Parade.

Defender Michael Rose completes his three-match suspension having received a straight red card at Morecambe last month, whilst attacker Elliott Durrell is again expected to miss out having failed to make an appearance so far this season with a groin injury.

Midfielder Ryan Lloyd is another to have not featured this season with an ankle injury, whilst forward Jordan Ponticelli has only made one appearance for the Silkmen since joining on loan from Coventry City and is struggling with a foot problem.

Goalkeeper Luke Simpson (dislocated thumb) and forward Ben Stephens (hip) are still expected to be sidelined. Versatile defender Callum Evans is a doubt having been stretchered off against Morecambe.

Macclesfield Town team vs Forest Green Rovers (4-2-3-1): O’Hara, Hodgkiss, Lowe, Kelleher, Fitzpatrick (C), Marsh, Arthur, Maycock, Whitaker (Vincenti 57’), Wilson, Blissett

One to Watch – Scott Wilson

Having scored his first ever Football League goal on the weekend, attacker Scott Wilson will be hoping that springboards his season having failed to find the target in his previous eight appearances.

That is in stark contrast to Wilson’s debut season at the Moss Rose with the Silkmen, with the 25-year old steering the club to the National League title as top scorer with 14 goals from 36 appearances.

Before this season, Wilson had spent the entirety of his professional career in the non-league having failed to make the grade at Bristol City – a club he joined aged eight before getting released aged 16.

A decent stint with Filton College afforded him another shot at Bristol City but despite again impressing the youth and reserve teams, failed to make a competitive first-team appearance.

Wilson entered the non-league circuit following that second release and spells for Gloucester City, Cinderford Town and Yate Town soon followed for the attacker. Grabbing over 30 goals at Yate saw him on a six-week trial with Bristol Rovers, but again to no avail, so moved on to Gloucester City again then Paulton Rovers.

A spell at Weston Super Mare, where he netted 24 times in the 2015/16 season left Wilson with a couple of options, most notable Eastleigh in the National League or move to Sweden to join Graham Potter at Ostersunds.

He joined the Spitfires for the 2016/17 campaign and despite playing under four different managers, still managed 36 goals and eight goals, going on to join Macclesfield ahead of last season.

Manager – Mark Yates

It’s not been the easiest of starts to life in the latest managerial position for vastly experienced 48-year old Mark Yates.

His side have failed to win a game in normal time this season, both their Carabao Cup victories this season came on penalties, as did their success in the CheckaTrade Trophy, and they didn’t exactly have the best of pre-season schedules either.

This is the fifth managerial rold held by Yates and he has had varying levels of success in the previous roles in non-league and the Football League.

Having made the decision to hang up his playing boots at the end of the 2004/05 season, Yates was appointed first team coach at Burnley before going back to former club Kidderminster Harriers as manager on 6^th January 2006.

He steered the club away from the possibility of successive relegations in his first season before making a trip to Wembley in his second season for a 3-2 defeat to Stevenage in the FA Trophy.

Those performances at Conference level were enough for Cheltenham Town to make a move just before Christmas 2009, with Yates getting his first crack at the Football League as a manager.

Cheltenham reached successive League Two play-offs in 2012 and 2013 but could never aspire to the third tier, losing in the final to Crewe Alexandra then the semi-finals to Northampton Town, and was sacked after a poor start to the 2014/15 campaign.

He returned to League Two just under a year later with Crawley Town but that wasn’t the most fruitful of spells and he couldn’t last a full 12 months and was sacked before the end of the campaign.

Yates returned to Kidderminster for a few weeks to coach the U23s in the summer of 2017, before moving into the National League to take over at Solihull Moors. At the time of his arrival, the club were bottom of the table but he led them to 18^th, alerting Macclesfield who moved quickly upon John Askey’s departure for Shrewsbury Town.

Previous Meetings

Newport County AFC have never met Macclesfield Town in a Football League fixture but did encounter the Silkmen twice during the 2012/13 promotion campaign.

The first of those meetings came on 13th October 2012 as part of ‘Non-League’ day. County were three points clear at the top of the table at the time; Macclesfield were ninth so the game was given the prime spot on the day.

That meant a 12:30 kick-off in Cheshire and an even earlier start to reach the Moss Rose on time. A total of 140 County supporters did make the trip that day and they would have seen a 1-1 draw against the Silkmen.

Exiles defender Tony James put County in-front just before half-time after reacting quickest amidst a host of bodies in the box following a Jake Thomson free-kick, a lead the Exiles kept until the 81st minute when Matthew Barnes Homer headed home the equaliser.

Watch the match highlights from the Moss Rose.

In the reverse fixture at Rodney Parade, County had to recover from conceding an early goal as they moved up to third place in the table with a convincing 4-1 victory on 11th April 2013.

Jay Burgess pounced on a rare County defensive error to open the scoring in the third minute, although the Exiles responded to amass a healthy half-time lead.

Christian Jolley drew County level with a close-range effort, before Andy Sandell’s penalty and Robbie Willmott’s decisive finish sent the Exiles back to the dressing rooms with a two-goal advantage. Willmott added the fourth late on.

Watch the highlights thanks to Glyn Neale’s video.

Officials - Late Change Made

Referee: Trevor Kettle

Assistant Referee 1: Samuel Ogles

Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Howick

Fourth Official: Ronald Ganfield

There has been a late change of referee for this fixture as Trevor Kettle has come in to replace Robert Lewis.

A highly experienced referee at this level, Kettle has officiated in the Championship on numerous occasions over the years, alongside being a League Two referee since the 2003/04 season when he first oversaw a home victory for Swansea City against Bury on 9^th August 2003.

He has refereed 11 games so far this season, giving out 32 yellow cards and one red card, including three yellows on the opening day of the season as Port Vale comprehensively beat Cambridge United 3-0.

There has been two occasions where Kettle has failed to brandish a single card of any colour, those coming as Yeovil Town and Exeter City went to penalties in the CheckaTrade Trophy and Wycombe Wanderers beat Fulham U21s in the same competition.

His sole dismissal this season came in the game that he gave out his season high number of yellow cards as Burton Albion’s Jamie Allen was dismissed alongside seven yellow cards in the Brewers’ defeat at Oxford United.

That follows on from refereeing a total of 37 games during the 2017/18 campaign, a season in which Kettle brandished 130 yellow cards and five red cards throughout the entirety of the campaign.

County Connection

Newport County AFC will be looking to rewrite the history books against Macclesfield Town after an awful previous history under referee Trevor Kettle. He has refereed the Exiles on three previous occasions, but they have come out on the end of 3-0 defeats every single time.

It has been over fours years since Kettle last officiated a match involving the Exiles and it came when York City stormed to victory at Rodney Parade on 5^th September 2015. Danny Holmes was dismissed although the game was already gone at that point, while Matt Partridge, Scott Barrow and Aaron Collins were all booked.

In the 2013/14 season, Kettle refereed another two County matches and the score lines were exactly the same in favour of the opposition.

On 10^th December 2013, County were knocked out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy by Darren Ferguson’s League One outfit Peterborough United. Robbie Willmott and Andy Sandell were booked as part of four cautions in total.

Then, County again suffered a 3-0 reverse on 15^th February 2014, this time away at Hartlepool United. Harry Worley and Tom Naylor were given yellow cards on that particular occasion.

Other League Two fixtures that day (All 7:45pm kick-offs)

Cambridge United vs Forest Green Rovers

Carlisle United vs Grimsby Town

Cheltenham Town vs Morecambe

Colchester United vs Yeovil Town

Crewe Alexandra vs Swindon Town

Exeter City vs Stevenage

Mansfield Town vs Oldham Town

Northampton Town vs Bury FC

Notts County vs Crawley Town

Port Vale vs MK Dons

Tranmere Rovers vs Lincoln City

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Can’t make the match?

You can follow along on social media using @NCAFCLive on Twitter, or via the Club’s official Facebook, Snapchat (OfficialExiles) and Instagram pages.

Don’t forget – if you reside outside of the UK, you can watch the game live by subscribing to County’s iFollow service. Commentary by Charlie Brown and Richard Shepherd can also be found at the Match Centre from 7.30pm.

An on-the-whistle match report of this match will be provided on the club website upon the end of the game. Michael Flynn’s post-match analysis will appear on the website the day after the game, while you can watch all of Flynn’s post-match press conference as-well as two County players by subscribing to #iFollowExiles.

Match Previews

Match Reports

REPORT| Jamille Matt grabs dramatic late equaliser in six-goal thriller with Macclesfield Town

2 October 2018

Jamille Matt’s stoppage time header ensured Newport County AFC closed the gap on the top of the League Two table to just two points with a 3-3 draw at home to Macclesfield Town.

It was a game full of penalties, three in total, and every single one of them was hit with conviction as David Fitzpatrick scored two of them and Mickey Demetriou also converted his spot kick.

Fitzpatrick’s first penalty doubled the visitors lead after Fiacre Kelleher emphatically head home, while Dan Butler made it 2-1 after a superb corner-kick tactic from the Exiles.

Demetriou then equalised on the hour with his well-placed spot kick, but Fitzpatrick ensured the Silkmen again retook the lead with eight minutes remaining, before Matt headed home with the last play of the game.

The result sees County remain in the automatic promotion spots and still four points clear of the chasing teams currently occupying the play-offs, while the Exiles remain level with Exeter City and two points behind Lincoln City.

Mike Flynn elected to make three changes to the side that fought back from two goals down to beat Cambridge United on Saturday.

Having missed his first league game in nearly two years due to personal reasons on Saturday, Joe Day came back in-between the sticks to replace Nick Townsend, while Charlie Cooper made his inaugural League Two start of the season in place of Josh Sheehan.

The final change brought about a slight formation change for the Exiles, with Mark O’Brien missing out through a hamstring injury. Jamille Matt came in after his two-goal heroics on Saturday so County elected a 4-3-3 formation from the first whistle.

Macclesfield Town manager Mark Yates chose to make the solitary one change from his side that stemmed the flow of losses at home to Forest Green Rovers last time out.

Midfielder Peter Vincenti came in instead of the highly experienced Danny Whitaker, who missed out completely from the matchday squad, and the Silkmen fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation at Rodney Parade.

Nobody could argue that, despite the eventual result on Saturday, it was a slow start to proceedings from a County perspective and unfortunately, those fears were again realised as Macclesfield Town raced into a two-nil lead within ten minutes.

The opener came within five minutes and saw Oxford United loanee Fiacre Kelleher grab his second of the season. The defender worked his way between the County centre-halves from a Jared Hodgkiss corner-kick to rise highest and power a header inside the far post.

It was a cagey opening before the goal, both sides having a share of possession, but the goal clearly inspired the previously winless away side and they found a way to double their lead in the 10^th minute.

Kieran O’Hara’s long ball towards the half-way line was flicked on by the imposing figure of Nathan Blissett, and when Dan Butler and Tyrone Marsh clashed in the area trying to beat each other to it, the referee pointed to the spot and Macclesfield had a penalty.

Full-back David Fitzpatrick sent Joe Day the wrong way to grab his first goal of the campaign, curling into the bottom left-corner with the sort of clinicality that probably meant he would have scored even if Day had guessed right.

Just like against Cambridge three days ago, falling two goals behind seemed to spark County into life and more towards their familiar tempo, although that was helped by Macclesfield’s desire to sit back more and invite the ensuing pressure.

The away side were proving a tough nut to crack, County having to go through the wing channels to get any apparent success, but for the most part the away side were preventing opportunities at Manchester United loanee Kieran O’Hara.

It was always going to take something of quality to unlock an otherwise unbreachable defensive system and the Exiles found that moment of magic just before the half-hour mark.

It was something straight off the training ground that the team had been practising for a couple of weeks, and this time it worked wonders after Cambridge were able to work out the idea on Saturday.

Charlie Cooper played a corner-kick short into Padraig Amond’s path, the Irishman playing a lovely floated ball towards the edge of the area, and when Butler took the ball down with a perfect first-touch, the left-back fired almost through O’Hara to get County back on track.

From that point to the half-time whistle, the Exiles continued to pile on the pressure even though they weren’t able to find an equaliser in the first-half.

After good interchange in and around the area, Amond fired over after O’Hara closed down the angle, while fresh off the back of getting his first of the season on Saturday, the confidence was still brimming in Mickey Demetriou and he only just missed the far post from a good 45 yards.

That was it for the first-half at Rodney Parade and County could probably fell aggrieved for trailing at the interval after dominating the game after the slow opening 10 minutes.

If there’s one thing you can never doubt in County, it’s their ability to react to the team-talk from Flynn at half-time, and they almost levelled within five minutes of the restart.

Fraser Franks’ perfect cross onto the head of Amond looked for all the world like finding the bottom corner, only for the Man Utd loanee O’Hara to unbelievably get a palm to it and preserve his sides lead.

Everything was coming from County in the second-half, Macclesfield sitting too deep and allowing the Exiles to get success down the wings, and the deserved equaliser finally came after 59 minutes.

O’Hara, after a previously impressing evening, completely misread a long-ball into his area and when Matt took it around him, Fitzpatrick had no option but to haul him to the ground.

Demetriou scored his penalty for the second successive game, firing emphatically into the same corner that Fitzpatrick put his spot kick and the power took it past O’Hara who went the right way.

O’Hara redeemed himself when emphatically denying Semenyo with 20 minutes remaining, but it was just one-way traffic from County trying to find a winner.

But a game can change in an instant and when Demetriou was adjudged to have used his hand when Macclesfield pumped in a corner-kick, the Silkmen had their second penalty of the night.

For the third time during the game, the spot kick was again struck with conviction and Fitzpatrick restored the lead for the visitors in spite of Day’s best efforts when guessing right.

Tyreeq Bakinson almost got the instant response but again O’Hara got his body behind the powerful attempt, while Tyrone Marsh fired wide at the other end as County began to commit bodies forward.

O’Hara was again stealing the headlines with another out of this world save to deny Bakinson in the fourth minute of additional time, while there was late drama as County saw a header bounce back off the crossbar onto the line, but it wasn’t given.

That only went to inspire County and they finally secured that decisive equaliser with the last kick – or head – of the game. Demetriou’s long ball into the area found Matt in space and the man of the hour continued his super goal scoring by snatching a point for County.

Newport County AFC (4-3-3): Day, Forbes, Demetriou (C), Franks, Butler, Bennett, Bakinson, Cooper (Harris 78’), Semenyo, Matt, Amond

Subs not used: Townsend, Pipe, Marsh-Brown, Harris, Sheehan, Foulston, Pring

Macclesfield Town (4-2-3-1): O’Hara, Hodgkiss, Lowe, Kelleher, Fitzpatrick (C), Marsh (Pearson 94’), Arthur (Napa 78’), Maycock, Vincenti, Wilson (Smith 70’), Blissett

Subs not used: Taylor, Grimes, Welch-Hayes, Stevens